


Locked Letters

by remi_wolf



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Blackmail, Claude von Riegan Needs a Hug, Extortion, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route, Gen, Letters, Love Letters, Mentioned Lorenz Hellman Gloucester, Minor Lorenz Hellman Gloucester/Claude von Riegan, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Secret Identity, Stressed Claude von Riegan, Whump, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:21:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27074911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remi_wolf/pseuds/remi_wolf
Summary: The Alliance is finally starting to push back and turn the tide of this war. It's taken years, but as Claude sits and stares at the maps and the letters and the reports, he can feel everything starting to get better.Until he receives a letter.A letter, carefully folded and locked and not from the Alliance or home, and he has no idea whose careful writing this is, but he does know one thing.Whomever wrote it knowsexactlywho he is, and he has no idea who they are.Whumptober Day 17: I Did Not See That Coming. Prompt: Blackmail.
Kudos: 16
Collections: Beguilements and Distractions, Remi's Whumptober Collection for 2020, Whumptober 2020





	Locked Letters

“A letter from the front, Your Grace. Addressed specifically to you, and to be opened in the presence of no one else.”

Claude looked up from where he was chewing on the back of the pen, frowning for a moment before looking back at the letter he was slaving over and finally looking back at the messenger. “Thank you. I’ll attend to it straight away.”

The messenger nodded, bowing quickly before passing the letter off to Claude and turning away. Claude watched them for a moment before turning his attention back to the letter, frowning at the wax seal atop a finely-folded letter. It would be work enough to simply open it, especially as he wasn’t familiar with this way of locking a letter shut. He had his own means of locking letters, ones he had taught to only the other members of his house, but this was...more complicated than that. 

He sat back, quietly working at the letter, waving away the servants that came in to ask about lunch, finally carefully unfolding it nearly an hour later, smoothing it over the table. The paper was thick, and fine, better in quality than he remembered getting since before the war, and he hummed softly as he looked over it. 

The handwriting looked familiar, though he wasn’t entirely sure about where he would get that idea. Familiar, looping letters spread out across the page, larger than he expected, and he read through the immediate pleasantries at the beginning. His full title, the highest of formality was used, and that seemed familiar enough that it had him nearly skipping over the entire first paragraph before his eyes paused over one addition to the titles, one he hadn’t seen in years, not since he had lived in Almyra. 

His proper, full, Almyran name and title. 

The letter, within its opening paragraph, had his full and proper identity laid out, and in the most fascinatingly polite way possible. Claude took a deep breath, looking over it before picking it up and smelling it. Perhaps it was from Almyra. Paper was common there, even if official correspondence like this would be on parchment, or woven into fabric. But no, the familiar smell of spices was nowhere to be sensed, and while he knew that it would be faded by the time it got to him, it should still linger there. The rare letters from his parents or Nader always smelled of spices and home when he received them. That, and the fact that it was still written in High Fódlan. A hated language, one only occasionally used in the Alliance, and only between the nobility for the most official of documents. 

He sat back in the chair, frowning for a moment before continuing to read the paper. Whomever wrote it, they almost had a better command of the language than he did, so they were likely from the Empire, even if they weren’t there currently. That didn’t do anything to soothe his spirits, even as the letter continued and politely inquired into his health, and the health of his people, and the state of the war on his merchants and supply lines. Honestly, if he didn’t receive the shock of his title or if it wasn’t written in High Fódlan, he’d expect that it would be from Lorenz, or Hilda. Flames, even Ignatz could have written something like this. 

It clearly wasn’t any of his allies, though. 

Which only meant that it was from one of his enemies. One of his enemies found his identity, assumed that meant that they were now the best of friends, and continued to write and inquire so formally into his life, a strange mixture of formality and informality that had his head spinning. Whomever it was, they did their homework, and they did it well, better than he could have done for any of his allies. 

They even inquired into the supply lines of his favorite tea! Which, honestly, those supply lines were in shambles, and he told Lorenz as much when they were lamenting the lack of supplies two letters ago, but to have this person...he didn’t like it.

Someone high in the Empire, someone who had access to information and had yet to reveal the knowledge of who he was. Claude chewed on his lip, thinking over it as he finally approached the last paragraph in the letter, his blood running cold as he read the demands. 

> _Your Royal Highness, if I may be so bold as to address you by your Almyran title, I have a proposition for you. Renounce the Leicester Alliance’s declaration of war, renounce your title as Duke Riegan, and return to Almyra, and never return, or face the wrath of your own people. The Leicester Alliance’s greatest enemy, when not the Adrestian Empire, is Almyra. I doubt that your people will be kind to you when they realize who you are. End this war, submit to Her Royal Majesty’s rule, or have your people find out the truth of their scheming leader._
> 
> _You have one month until I will go forward with this information._
> 
> _I remain Your Grace’s most obedient servant,_
> 
> _Hubert von Vestra_
> 
> _Minister of the Royal Household_
> 
> _Right hand of the Imperial Emperor_
> 
> _The Knife in the Shadows_

Claude took a deep breath as he looked over the last paragraph. Hubert, of course. He took a shaking breath, trying to keep himself from falling apart when the first breath didn’t work to help at all. His world was falling apart. How had Hubert found out? How had he known? He had been so sure to keep it a secret, so careful. Yes, he knew that most of the others were aware that he had lived a strange life, one that was unusual and he kept to himself and fluffed up as more mysterious than it was, but that didn’t mean anyone knew that he was from Almyra. 

No one in Fódlan truly knew Almyra, or he didn’t think they did. No one had ever mentioned the textiles, or the clothes, or even how he wore his hair. While he had changed his name, he hadn’t told anyone his original one, though he had told Lorenz that his mother knew him by a different name, but he hadn’t told Lorenz anything else. Yes, he had tried to briefly bond with Cyril over Almyra, but he stopped that after a singular conversation when it became clear that Cyril despised Almyra for what Fódlan had done to him. 

He didn’t know what to do. 

Claude took a deep breath, staring at the letter, and then staring out over the table and the map. How long had Hubert known? How long had Hubert been sitting on this information, waiting for the opportune moment to bring it to light? Yes, he knew that the Alliance was slowly pushing back against the tide of war, but they were only barely managing it. One loss, one missed battle, and then they’d be overrun. Why hadn’t he brought this to the table at the start of anything?

A decision needed to be reached, and while Claude knew he had the entirety of the month to decide and debate this, he also knew that any decision that would be made needed to happen within the next few weeks, if Hubert was to know about the decision before the end of the month. There wasn’t any time to think, which Claude knew was intentional, but he didn’t want to be on the receiving side of it. He had extorted and blackmailed people plenty of times, but...this was too much. He didn’t know what to do. He only wanted his people safe, and happy, including his people that were part of the Church.

Lorenz. He’d talk to Lorenz. 

Claude took out the letter he had been writing to Lorenz moments ago, and started spilling his secrets, begging for advice.

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully you enjoyed that! I thought it would be a nice change of pace for Claude to be on the receiving end of some schemes, rather than only enacting them, so he unfortunately got caught with some blackmail. How did Hubert find out who Claude was? Are there spies that Claude hasn't found? How will Lorenz react? What will Claude do? Who knows! Maybe there will be more to this story later on!


End file.
